Health and Social Service Implications of a Census Undercount in Los Angeles

The U.S. census is the constitutionally required count of every person living in the United States every 10 years, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. Experts have documented that Latinos are among the most likely to be undercounted. The count is used to draw legislative boundaries and to distribute billions of public dollars at the national, state, and local levels.This brief provides findings from a survey of 100 of the key stakeholders and service providers in Los Angeles County (LAC) most likely to be impacted by an undercount, and it also provides estimates of the funding that the county risks losing for health care and health-related services if there is an undercount in the upcoming census. We found that 89% of 37 community-based organizations and 75% of 16 government agencies and health systems are concerned about an undercount and are, or will be, conducting census outreach to promote an accurate count. Across all programs in the county, we estimate that LAC could lose anywhere from $117 million to $586 million annually in federal funding if Latinos are undercounted by 2% to 10% percent, or nearly half a million individuals, in the upcoming census. This loss of funds would impact services received by all populations. These data document the importance of assuring that everyone is counted by the census.This study is funded in part by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences through UCLA CTSI Grant UL1TR001881 and the UCLA Resource Center for Minority Aging Research/Center for Health Improvement of Minority Elderly (RCMAR/CHIME) Grant AG021684